The Apollo Program
The Apollo program was a human spaceflight program undertaken by NASA during the years 1961 – 1975 with the goal of conducting manned moon landing missions. President John F. Kennedy announced this goal in 1961, and it was accomplished on July 20, 1969 by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 mission. Five other Apollo missions also landed astronauts on the Moon, the last one in 1972. These six Apollo spaceflights are the only times humans have landed on another world. The Apollo program, specifically the lunar landings, are often cited as one of the greatest achievements in human history.
Apollo was the third human spaceflight program undertaken by NASA, the space agency of the United States. It used Apollo spacecraft and Saturn launch vehicles, which were later used for the Skylab program and the joint American-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. These later programs are thus often considered to be part of the overall Apollo program.
Apollo 8
Launched 21 December 1968
Lunar Orbit and Return
Returned to Earth 27 December 1968
Launched 18 May 1969
Lunar Orbit and Return
Returned to Earth 26 May 1969
Launched 16 July 1969
Landed on Moon 20 July 1969
Sea of Tranquility
Returned to Earth 24 July 1969
Launched 14 November 1969
Landed on Moon 19 November 1969
Ocean of Storms
Returned to Earth 24 November 1969
Launched 11 April 1970
Lunar Flyby and Return
Malfunction forced cancellation of lunar landing
Returned to Earth 17 April 1970
Launched 31 January 1971
Landed on Moon 5 February 1971
Fra Mauro
Returned to Earth 9 February 1971
Launched 26 July 1971
Landed on Moon 30 July 1971
Hadley Rille
Returned to Earth 7 August 1971
Launched 16 April 1972
Landed on Moon 20 April 1972
Descartes
Returned to Earth 27 April 1972
Launched 07 December 1972
Landed on Moon 11 December 1972
Taurus-Littrow
Returned to Earth 19 December 1972
I got the bug so in my final year in College, I joined the Apollo Program as a test engineer...using my Ham Radio experience. Joined the team March 6th, 1964.
Exciting wasn't the name for it... Riveting! We had a national goal. We were doing something that has NEVER been done! We were going to the Moon!
We worked 100's of hours volunteered every year to "get the job done!'
We knew the astronauts and I had the privilege of knowing them by name even though I was a pretty junior member of the team! I knew Aldrin, Conrad, Bean, Scott, Young, Duke and the rest! Even had an argument with Conrad over how the SCS (Stabilization Control System) worked!
The Apollo program included a large number of uncrewed test missions and 12 crewed missions: three Earth orbiting missions (Apollo 7, 9 and Apollo-Soyuz), two lunar orbiting missions (Apollo 8 and 10), a lunar swing by (Apollo 13), and six Moon landing missions (Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17).
Two astronauts from each of these six missions walked on the Moon (Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, Charles Conrad, Alan Bean, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, David Scott, James Irwin, John Young, Charles Duke, Gene Cernan, and Harrison Schmitt), the only humans to have set foot on another solar system body.
Total funding for the Apollo program was approximately $20,443,600,000.